Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Funeral Flowers

The same weekend my grandmother turned ninety-three, her best friend of seventy-four years died. Although her death was not unexpected, and was in some ways a blessing, of course it was still a sorrow. Strange to have both events going on at once. My recurring houseguest Elyse came for the funeral, since she's the granddaughter. During the service I was marvelling at a friendship that has been passed down through three generations.

Elyse and her family only stayed three days, since they had to get back for school. She very sweetly gave me several large floral arrangements that weren't used at the graveside. The flowers themselves were beautiful, but the arrangements were very institutional and, frankly, had sad connotations. So in order to enjoy the flowers, make them friendlier and homier, I took them apart.

I started with two of these:


The first step was to discard all the filler, such a ferns, statice, baby's breath. Then I grouped the flowers by color. I collected all the whites for a bouquet for my bedroom:


Then all the pale pinks (love those stargazers) on the living room table:


And all the rich pinks and reds together in the kitchen:


Lovely.

7 comments:

Elisabeth Black said...

Ooh your bedroom walls are the most beautiful color.

I never leave a florist bouquet intact. :)

Mimi said...

you combined the colors into such beautiful arrangements...
I'm sure the roses made your room smell very nice too

Crooked Stream said...

I really enjoy your blog posts as well as the fantastic photos!
My sister and I have joined a Christian Media Forum and I thought Giles would enjoy the photography forum. There is lots to learn and share! I'm sure they would love his photos.
http://www.cmforums.org/

Elizabeth Joy said...

What a good idea! Just looking at the photos made me feel better. Hope you feel better too. : )

elizabeth said...

Your arrangements are just so much more beautiful. I love the color groupings

Jana @sidetrackd said...

The arrangements you made are beautiful.

Anonymous said...

You have a simple, beautiful touch. We should all aspire to get down to the basics and see the beauty the object exudes. In almost everything there is just too much which takes away from the intended natural beauty. It's a good reminder for me. Thank you for the lesson.

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